


light of heaven

by bluexshift



Series: tumblr drabbles [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Stargazing, alec is a space and mythology gay, fight me, they finally get some time off, this just follows them on a date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 13:40:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14021454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluexshift/pseuds/bluexshift
Summary: being high warlock and head of the institute means making the most of the smallest windows of time





	light of heaven

**Author's Note:**

> written for my angst to fluff ask game on tumblr; thank you to [malec-newtmas-coliver](http://malec-newtmas-coliver.tumblr.com) on tumblr for the prompt!
> 
> you can find me on tumblr at [magnuslightwoodbane](http://magnuslightwoodbane.tumblr.com)

It was a late summer night when they finally got a substantial amount of time off for themselves - however, being High Warlock and Head of the Institute meant that substantial time was more like two days.

They loved their jobs, they really did. Magnus loved being a pillar among which his kind could support themselves, loved being considered anything other than wistful or ethereal or selfish, even if the Magnus of a century ago had deliberately cultivated that reputation as a form of armour. And Alec _thrived_ in a position of leadership. He elicited loyalty from his own people and emanated trustworthiness to others, he found joy in overturning established traditions and creating new ones, he was a teacher and a protector. If Magnus was the immovable object, Alec was the unstoppable force, the kind that people were grateful to be swept up by.

They’d slept in late, revelling in having the freedom to do so, and stayed in bed even longer, trading kisses that ranged from lazy to frantic, and back again once the afterglow had faded out. They’d taken a stroll, with no real destination, other than _maybe_ they should go grocery shopping – actual grocery shopping, in a store, as opposed to Magnus enchanting the kitchen pantry so as that anything they wanted that could be found in your average store appeared whenever they walked in, if not already there.

(Average by Magnus standards apparently being on a level with the likes Dean & DeLuca, and Alec definitely could feel himself getting used to those high standards.)

Grocery shopping was a whole level of mundane, domestic intimacy that neither of them had expected. They’d stopped off at the store Magnus had struck a deal with; one of the sales assistants, Cassie, a young woman who happened to also be a werewolf, was responsible for ringing up whatever Magnus had conjured up. He always left her a list and five times too much money, which Alec learnt when he did it in person and she protested.

“Every time Magnus, please, I can’t accept this much,” she said in hushed tones.

“And I say every time, my dear, consider it a tip for exceptional service. How’s your rent, your mother?”

“Paid ahead for the year, and she’s … doing better. With the medication. Thank you, Magnus.”

He gently patted her hand, and Alec felt a surge of pride and affection at yet another reminder of how incredibly giving Magnus was, how big his heart.

Making it back to the loft adorned with bags, they prepared food all afternoon, Magnus showing Alec various recipes he’d picked up through his first couple of centuries; it took a little while to accumulate enough wealth to eat out every night, Magnus explained, and he was not the type to eat the same things over and over.

As night settled in New York, they took a portal, and ate as they watched the sun set from Mauna Kea. They talked, and they didn’t, simply listening to quiet swing music and being together, and both felt like the usual comfort they had found in each other.

“This is a great time to be here, we’ll get to see the Lyrids. I always wanted to see a meteor shower in a sky like this,” Alec said, after a longer stretch of silence. Spread out on a blanket on the ground, they’d laid on their backs and watched the sky light up above them.

“Oh?” Magnus turned his head to look at Alec, who was looking at the sky in childlike wonder.

“I loved astronomy as a kid. Obviously, it’s useful to know in training for navigation and stuff, but it kinda sparked off this whole thing, all the mythology that ancient civilisations ascribed to them. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? That people, millennia ago, told stories about the same stars?”

“Agreed, it is... beautiful,” Magnus whispered, still looking at Alec, enthralled by his expression and overjoyed for the young Alec, able to actually cultivate and maintain an interest without it being stamped out, like they had tried to do with the rest of him.

Magnus had brought a star map, but found he didn’t need it when he had Alec; while he knew the basics, of course - he had sailed seas with pirates in his time, after all – hearing Alec point out Aries, and Perseus, and the Pleiades situated in Taurus, and the red dot of Mars, in that soft voice Magnus had found was reserved just for him, was like learning the sky for the first time.

“That’s Canis major, there, and you can see the Sirius in it, and Canis minor, that has a distant galaxy as part of it. Can’t see that, obviously,” he huffed a laugh, the way he found himself doing frequently around Magnus. “They represent two hunting dogs, big and small, following-“ here, Alec moved his pointing finger over to the most obvious constellation in the sky “-Orion, the hunter. The Sumerians called it Uru An-Na, which means ‘the light of heaven’, right, and he was said to be exceptionally tall, the greatest hunter, and the most handsome man in Greece, by whatever metric they used to determine _that_.”

Magnus smiled. “I’d bet every ounce of gold to my name that you’d surpass him in every respect, cuore mio.”

“Oh, Italian?” Alec changed the subject, but didn’t bother to hide the pleased blush on his face. Magnus hummed in assent. “Can you say something else in it?”

“Oh, uhm… mi hai cambiato la vita, ti voglio sempre al mio fianco.”

Before Alec could ask what it meant, a familiar constellation caught Magnus’s eye, and he raised his arm to indicate it.

“Go on then, Alexander, tell me about Gemini.”

Alec’s face lit up as he began to speak, confident in his knowledge. “Well, in terms of the stars, the heads of the twins, Castor and Pollux are interesting, ‘cause Pollux has at least one planet orbiting it, and Castor is actually a really complicated system of six stars. I learnt the Greco-Roman myth behind it actually, if you wanna…” he trailed off, looking at Magnus for affirmation. Magnus raised his hand to Alec’s cheek, thumb caressing his cheekbone.

“Of course I want to hear. Anything that interests you, Alexander, I want to learn it.”

Alec smiled in response. “So, there were two brothers, Castor and Pollux. They had the same mom, Queen Leda of Sparta, but Castor’s dad was the king, and Pollux’s dad was Zeus, and that meant that Pollux was immortal and Castor wasn’t. They were basically twins, differences aside, and they went to fight in the Trojan War together. Castor was killed in action, and Pollux, distraught, asked Zeus to make Castor immortal. So Zeus took them both, and placed them in the night sky, to stand together forever.”

Alec quieted then, and Magnus swallowed, thoughts racing and anxiety beginning to build.

“Do you… regret it? Becoming the Pollux to their Castor?”

“What? No, god, no. I’ll miss them like crazy when we get to that point, but... I can make a real difference, sticking around. I have a different duty, different destiny.” He turned, pressing a kiss the palm still resting on his cheek. “I’ll never regret choosing you, ever. Especially not when we can do nights like this.”

“Is this a ploy to get more date night food, Lightwood?”

Alec chuckled. “I don’t just love you for your cooking, Magnus. Although, that said, it could end wars. Probably.” Alec stood, then, pulling Magnus up with him. The visible area around them was still secluded, still theirs, The Ink Spots still faintly playing from the magically-powered gramophone.

“Oh, it’s not my cooking?” Magnus faced Alec, arms slipping around his waist as Alec brought his own arms up around Magnus’s shoulders. “Then why do you say you love me, Alexander, hm?”

“Would you like to hear the list I have? I can even do it alphabetically.”

Magnus snorted. “Your jokes are getting better.”

Alec grinned, stepping closer to Magnus, pressing against him as they began to sway, unconsciously, to the music.

“Oh, I’m serious,” Alec murmured, eyes and cheeks shining. “Every day you give me something to add to the list.”

Magnus inhaled, short and sharp – he still hadn’t got used to how blunt and open and honest Alec was with showing his love, the opposite to how Magnus found himself to be.

“Well, to start off with, I love your hands,” Alec said.

“Oh? Well, I love yours too.”

“I love your Adam’s apple.” Alec pressed a kiss to it, making Magnus giggle, honest-to-god _giggle,_ and in all his life he’d never heard a sound so sweet.

“I love your deflect rune.” Magnus ran his finger gently over it, tracing the shape, savouring in how Alec instantly closed his eyes and stretched out, giving Magnus better access. “I love how you lose control whenever I kiss it.”

“I love your arms.”

"I love your eyes.”

“I love _your_ eyes.” Alec said, opening his own and meeting Magnus’s gaze. They laughed softly as Magnus dropped his glamour, faces and souls shining with light and love.

“I love your kindness.” Alec said, sincerity written in every aspect of his face. Magnus’s expression softened even further, full of surprise and affection.

“I love your devotion.”

“I love your patience.”

“I love your tenacity.”

Alec laughed softly again. “Didn’t you say a little while ago that you hated my “damned, pig-headed stubbornness?”

Magnus smiled. “I do hate it sometimes, but I’ll always love it too. It’s part of you.”

“I’ll love you always, too, Magnus. I promise.”

It was just two days off, but they’d formed a habit of finding eternity in the smallest of moments, from grocery shopping, to dancing under the celestial light of a hundred falling stars.

 


End file.
